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It sounds like the ingredient list for an indulgent dessert. But red wine, chocolate and strawberries are more than a guilty pleasure. They could all help guard against diabetes. A study found for the first time the high content of flavonoids found in berry fruits may regulate blood glucose levels, and stave off type 2 diabetes. Flavonoids are antioxidant compounds found in plants, as well as tea, red wine and chocolate, which can protect against a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, some cancers and dementia. The study found the main protective effect came from higher intakes of...

American eaters love a good villain. Diets that focus on one clear bad guy have gotten traction even as the bad guy has changed: fat, carbohydrates, animal products, cooked food, gluten. And now Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California at San Francisco, is adding sugar to the list. His book "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease" makes the case that sugar is almost single-handedly responsible for Americans' excess weight and the illnesses that go with it. "Sugar is the biggest perpetrator of our current health crisis," says Lustig, blaming it...

Is sugar toxic and the cause of the obesity epidemic? Here’s a great new video called Toxic Sugar. It’s a recent segment from the major Australian science program Catalyst, on ABC. It’s arguably the best 18-minute introduction ever made on the true causes of the obesity epidemic. The program features the #1 enemy of the sugar industry: professor Robert Lustig. Also appearing: science writer Gary Taubes and obesity expert professor Michael Crowley. See it and then tell your friends. This needs to be seen by a lot of people

It seems that not even Beyonce or new, lower-calorie options can convince Americans to drink more soda. Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. all sold less soda in the second quarter in North America, dashing hopes for the moment that splashy new marketing and different sweetener mixes could get drinkers back. Coca-Cola Co. said it sold 4 percent less soda in North America, while PepsiCo Inc. simply said its decline for the region was in the "mid-single digits." Dr Pepper sold 3 percent less of the fizzy drinks...

UCL scientists have developed a new technique for detecting the uptake of sugar in tumors, using magnetic resonance imaging. A new technique for detecting cancer by imaging the consumption of sugar with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been unveiled by UCL scientists. The breakthrough could provide a safer and simpler alternative to standard radioactive techniques and enable radiologists to image tumours in greater detail. The new technique, called 'glucose chemical exchange saturation transfer' (glucoCEST), is based on the fact that tumours consume much more glucose (a type of sugar) than normal, healthy tissues in order to sustain their growth. The...

Washington, DC - These findings are the result of a single study and more research is needed on the effects of mango consumption on human health. Consumption of mangoes may potentially have a positive effect on blood sugar in obese individuals and help to limit inflammation, according to a new research. The study led by Edralin Lucas, Ph.D., associate professor of nutritional sciences at Oklahoma State University, examined the effects of daily mango consumption on clinical parameters and body composition in obese subjects (body mass index, BMI = 30kg/m2). Twenty adults (11 males and 9 females) participated in the study,...

This is your brain on sugar—for real. Scientists have used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating. After drinking a fructose beverage, the brain doesn’t register the feeling of being full as it does when simple glucose is consumed, researchers found. It’s a small study and does not prove that fructose or its relative, high-fructose corn syrup, can cause obesity, but experts say it adds evidence they may play a role. These sugars often are added to processed foods and beverages,...

Sugar, the nutritional pariah that dentists and dietitians have long reviled, is enjoying a second act, dressed up as a natural, healthful ingredient. From the tomato sauce on a Pizza Hut pie called “The Natural,” to the just-released soda Pepsi Natural, some of the biggest players in the American food business have started, in the last few months, replacing high-fructose corn syrup with old-fashioned sugar. ConAgra uses only sugar or honey in its new Healthy Choice All Natural frozen entrees. Kraft Foods recently removed the corn sweetener from its salad dressings, and is working on its Lunchables line of portable...

A new study shows that sugar may not be so sweet for the brain – and may lead to memory problems.

A slow starvation of the brain over time is one of the major triggers of the biochemistry that causes some forms of Alzheimer's, according to a new study that is helping to crack the mystery of the disease's origins.

USING an artificial, no-calorie sweetener rather than sugar may make it tougher, not easier, to lose weight, US researchers said today. Scientists at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, studied rats that were fed food with the artificial sweetener saccharin and rats fed food with glucose, a natural sugar. In comparison to rats given yogurt sweetened with glucose, those that ate yogurt sweetened with saccharin went on to consume more calories and put on more weight and body fat. The researchers said sweet foods may prompt the body to get ready to take in a lot of calories, but when...

HONG KONG: Hong Kong scientists have invented a device to help diabetics measure their blood sugar painlessly for the first time — without pricking their fingers. The instrument, which is the size of a mobile phone, emits a weaker form of infrared, or near-infrared, which penetrates the skin on the finger and homes in on the bloodstream. Out of the many components in the blood, the beam is able to identify bits of glucose through the frequency or wavelengths they transmit and the amount of blood sugar present would be displayed in 10 seconds. "There are different types of cells...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Digital Angel Corporation a patent for its syringe-implantable glucose-sensing RFID microchip, Digital Angel announced today. The RFID microchip measures the glucose concentration levels of diabetic patients and will be marketed and distributed by Digital Angel's sister company, VeriChip, as an extension to the company's products benefiting people. "A glucose-sensing microchip could profoundly impact the 230 million people worldwide living with diabetes," said Digital Angel CEO and President, Kevin McGrath. "Patent approval for this RFID microchip is a major step in bringing this life-altering technology to market. It also underscores Digital Angel's commitment...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet, researchers said on Thursday. They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association. Participants said the vegan diet was easier to follow than most because they did not measure portions or count calories. Three of the vegan dieters dropped out of the study, compared to eight on...

Boy charged with felony for carrying sugar BY JUSTINA WANG A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed. The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends. The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar....

Biotechnology Sea of dreams BBSR Apr 29th 2004 | ORLANDO From The Economist print edition Genetically modified microbes will lead to a revolution in industrial biotechnology CRAIG VENTER, the man who led the privately funded project to sequence the human genome, is someone who likes to mix business with pleasure. And for a geneticist whose passion is sailing, there can be few more satisfying ways of doing so than sampling genes in the Sargasso sea, near Bermuda. The samples he took there last year yielded a surprise. The sea had looked as though it was the oceanic equivalent of a...

Indian scientists claimed to have developed a "cure" to diabetes from a plant found in West Bengal's Purulia hills. "The drug - 'ICB201' - has been derived from a plant after it was noticed that people in Purulia hills used it in case of diabetic problems," Dr S Bhattacharya of Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, whose team developed the drug, said at the Science Congress on Tuesday evening. Bhattacharya, while delivering the BC Guha Memorial Award Lecture on "Confronting Diabetic Type II: A global Epidemic", claimed — "probably the answer to 'Type-II' diabetes has been found". Asserting that earlier...